Chapter 4 - THE SIRENS AND THE STALKER
The piercing wail of police sirens flooded the cul-de-sac, illuminating the dark driveway in flashing pulses of crimson and cobalt blue. Elena whipped her head around toward the street, dropping the trash liner back into the bin with a sharp curse. "Scott! The cops are here! We're out of time!" she shrieked, panic cracking her polished veneer. From inside the house, the sound of heavy, panicked footsteps echoed as Scott sprinted toward the back door. I didn't wait. Ducking low beneath the line of sight from the kitchen window, I darted across the open gap of the driveway toward the wheelie bins. My fingers clawed through the discarded rubbish until they brushed against a small, damp piece of thermal paper tucked inside a crumpled fast-food wrapper. I snatched it out and shoved it deep into my jeans pocket just as the back door swung wide open with a violent slam. "What are you doing out here?!" Scott roared, his face twisting into an ugly mask of fury as he spotted me crouching by the bins. He didn't look like a grieving husband or a bewildered homeowner; he looked like a cornered animal. Before I could back away, his long stride closed the distance between us, his heavy hand clamping down hard around my wrist. "You were supposed to stay down, you stupid bitch," he hissed, his voice venomous and cold. I wrenched my arm backward with every ounce of remaining strength, using my momentum to drive my heel down hard against his instep. Scott let out a sharp grunt of pain, his grip loosening just enough for me to tear free. Across the lawn, the blinding headlights of two Fresno Police cruisers swept across the grass as they cut sharply into our driveway, gravel flying from their spinning tires. "Police! Drop to the ground! Hands where we can see them!" an amplified voice boomed from the darkness. Scott’s eyes darted frantically between me and the flashing cruisers, calculating his odds in a fraction of a second, before he threw his hands up and screamed, "Officer, help! My wife—she’s having a psychotic break, she poisoned our son!" The sheer audacity of his lie made my blood run colder than the poison ever could.
